Since Kindergarten
by xRDJ603
Summary: Ever since kindergarten Tony Stark and Pepper Potts had been the best of friends - and nothing more. Although as they enter their senior year of high school, things start to feel different between the two of them. Have their peers been right this whole time assuming they've always been more than "Just friends?" or are they finally going their separate ways?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: BFF**

Ever since kindergarten, Tony Stark and Virginia Potts had been the best of friends. The strangely-articulate-for-his-age brown haired boy, and the quiet but clever redhead stood no chance with becoming anything _but _on on that fateful day where they met in Mrs.B's class_._ The two of them not only came to enjoy playing together during recess, but also found themselves being labelled as the "gifted" children, as they excelled in their reading and math much further than the other kids their age. Being the "gifted" children included spending incredible amounts of time together, and might have just been the building blocks to their very, long lasting friendship. They were often secluded from the other children as they worked on their advanced papers, and quickly found that working together was nothing but fun. With the time they spent in school together, they were beginning to spend outside of school too. Maria Stark soon became close friends with Virginia's mother, Samantha Potts, and soon enough the two little geniuses were having play dates together, slaying dragons in Tony's ridiculously large backyard while their mothers discussed the trivial subjects of the world inside over a coffee.

As time grew on, slaying dragons in Tony's backyard, turned into slaying dragons on Tony's_ computer_. The two kids, now just under ten years old, soon found quite the interest in video games (despite their mothers protests). Tony would build the computers and Pepper would do all the playing. Still only being two kids in elementary school, it was increasingly obvious that Tony was excelling far past regular expectations of any _gifted_ kid his age. His classmates quickly took notice, although didn't seem to bother anyone but his teachers who insisted he skipped a few grades to challenge himself. Even though Tony's parents considered it, and his father almost insisted it, his mother said no. She thought it was important for a child to grow up alongside peers of his own age, and perhaps Tony coming to her one night and almost beginning to cry over the fact he wouldn't be able to see Virginia everyday if he skipped a grade, worked in his favour.

As grade seven came along, so did the drama. Girls began to notice Tony, and the boys Virginia. The word got out that Pepper was into video games, and gave her even more attention than her bright red hair already did. Tony wasn't sure how he felt about that. Pepper and him always played games together, ever since they were younger. He didn't find it that spectacular until he realized she was the only _girl _in the class who would even consider picking up an xbox controller. At the age they were at, it was inevitable that things were going to change. Tony began to become a little possessive of Pepper, almost to the fact of his peers accusing him of being her boyfriend, which he would scrunch up his face and dismiss. "We're just friends." He would deny, and look to Pepper for agreement, which she would give with a simple nod.

Apparently it seemed as though other boys wanted to be "just friends" with Pepper too, and soon enough their twosome had expanded. A boy named Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, and a new kid named Bruce Banner had all come to know Pepper as the coolest girl in school, and wanted to hang with her almost as frequently as Tony did. Pepper wasn't the only one getting attention though. All the girls in their class had recognized Tony as the _hottest _boy in school, which Pepper would never agree to, no matter how hard they tried to convince her.

Over the next few years, Tony and Pepper continued their friendship. Through high school, they stayed close… but weren't seeing each other as often as they used to. Tony had his first girlfriend in his junior year, and was more than surprised when Cindy, the captain of the cheer team had a problem when she saw him hanging out with Pepper (her new found nickname) after school. "What? We're just friends." he'd say, lifting up his sunglasses and staring at Cindy in distaste, wondering how she could ever assume Pepper was anything more than just his pal.

Things stayed like that for quite a while between the two in high school. Even Pepper's boyfriend of a few weeks became skeptical of their relationship once he spotted her hugging Tony one day after school. He even broke up with her over it, not believing that two_ friends_ would hug for _that_ long.

The truth was that Tony had told Pepper about something his dad had done again last night, and Pepper gave him a comforting hug. He didn't talk about his dad much, but when he did Pepper was sure to try her best and cheer him up. Of course, her boyfriend would never believe that. To them it was just a hug, but to their friends it was a hug between _Pepper and Tony_, the couple that everyone was beginning to notice. The couple that became famous for not being a couple.

Pepper had honestly never thought of Tony than more than just her friend. Tony was the guy that would make fun of her freckles in the summer and steal the fries off her plate at restaurants. He was the guy who could make her laugh in the worst of times, and he was the one that she could trust with anything. He was Tony Stark, and he was her best friend.

Although, it only took one summer vacation without each other for everything to change.

Tony and his family had gone to Venice, and Pepper had to stay the summer back in Malibu without him. This would be their first summer apart, and Pepper was a little more than upset by it. Sure she had many other friends, and still enjoyed herself, but she missed the summer nights where they'd stay up too late bickering over movies they hadn't even seen, and sneaking out to just to meet up with each other at the park across from their old elementary school.

To put it bluntly, she couldn't wait for her summer without him to end.

And end it did.

The first day of grade 12 came much slower than expected, and Pepper was more excited to see Tony than to start her senior year. With a quick text conversation with him the night prior, she learned he was flying in late but would be there for their last first day of high school.

Pepper was organizing her new locker when she heard the familiar thud of someones shoulder hitting the locker beside hers. With an excited smile, she turned away from her books and got her first look at him in the past few months.

And that's when something hit her.

When she looked up to him this morning, something was strange. He looked different.

…He looked _great._

It may have only taken her five years, but staring at him now, with his hair perfectly spiked in his unperfected fashion, that charming little grin of his, and his damn sunglasses hanging off the collar of his shirt making much more of his chest visible than was intended, Pepper could finally agree with her grade seven classmates.

It suddenly became very apparent to her, that Tony Stark very well could be the hottest guy in school.

She had to take a moment and asses the situation. Did he always look like that, and she only noticed it now? Or did something in Venice happen that somehow… caused this look. Maybe it was the tan, except he was always pretty tan… Was he doing something different with his hair? No, not that she could see. She felt like hitting herself in the head. Had Tony always looked like this? And she'd only noticed now?

"Pepper?"

His voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Ah, oh hey Tony!" she smiled, quickly closing her locker. "How was Venice?" she asked, smoothly keeping her cool and her revelation on the down low.

"Hot." He replied simply, raising his brows.

She swallowed and had to agree. "Mm I bet. Sporting quite the tan, aren't you?" she said with a little friendly chuckle. "Are you trying to make me look paler than I already am?"

"I don't need to tan to make you look pale, Pep." he teased right back, giving her a smile to ease the jab as he opened his arms for her. "Come here, I haven't seen you all summer."

Hugs from Tony were something rather rare. They didn't hug every time they left each other, like some friends had gotten into the habit of doing. When he hugged her, it was usually for a reason. To cheer her up, or celebrate. In this case, it was because he hadn't seen her in over two months, yet why did it feel so different?

She walked into his embrace with ease, and smiled as his arms came around her. He gave her a squeeze and she absently wondered if perhaps he started working out… or maybe, he was always just that strong.

"So, have fun holding down the fort while I was away?" he asked, sliding his arms out from around her and coming to her side as they began walking down the hall together.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "Definitely. I'm sure kicking Steve and Clint's ass in Halo every night was _way_ better than partying in Italy." she said sarcastically.

"How'd you know I'd gone partying?" he asked with a little grin.

"How'd you know I didn't have any fun without you?"

"Touché."

They walked like that together, teasing each other about their summer apart and just catching up with everything. He told her about the food in Italy, and how he wasn't sure if he could ever have american pizza again and Pepper informed him about all the drama that had happened between their group of friends while he was gone. They talked like that until Pepper reached her homeroom class at the far end of the hallway, which just happened to be in the complete opposite of Tony's homeroom, yet that didn't stop him from walking her there every morning.

"…Alright, later Potts. I missed you this summer." Tony smiled, throwing her a wink before he flooded back into the hallway of busy kids.

Pepper laughed good naturedly and waved him off, heart fluttering happily at the thought of him missing her "Bye Tony." she smiled, and took her seat inside her class, finally having time to mull over her new thoughts towards her best friend, Tony Stark.

**Hey guys! Please leave a review and tell me what you think! **


	2. Attraction

**Chapter 2: Attraction**

The bell rang, alerting the students it was time to go to their first block class, which Pepper now knew was biology in room 202. She hadn't gotten as much time as she would of liked to to process her new thoughts about Tony, since the teacher handed out paper after paper; it being the first day and all. As she walked out of her classroom she felt a little confused still. Sure, now she recognized that he was attractive. Sure she'd always known he wasn't_ ugly_ but now… she saw something else in him. Or rather _felt_, something else_ towards _him.

No. They were just friends.

She was just over thinking things.

There was a simple explanation for this onset of feelings: He came back with a great tan _and_ gave her a hug. Those things can throw a girl off sometimes. Especially if those things were coming from Tony Stark.

It was nothing to worry about.

Nothing at all.

Now with her mind clear of ridiculous thoughts towards Tony, Pepper made her way down the hallway and up the stairs to room 202, for biology.

Although, when she saw just who was in that classroom, all of those thoughts flooded back.

"Pepper? No way!" Tony was sitting on one of the desks at the front of the room, legs dangling off and a wild grin on his face. The teacher wasn't in the room yet, and Tony was taking full advantage of that.

Pepper walked in and smiled at him, chucking softy as they got a few looks from his raised voice. "Do we finally have bio together?" she asked, trying not to sound too excited.

"Seems that way!" Tony grinned almost maniacally. Clearly he had enough excitement for the both of them. His eyes wandered away from the redhead as a few more kids began to come into the classroom. "Come on, I want a seat in the back before they're all gone." he whispered, and hoped over the back of the desk to make his way to the very left hand corner of the room.

Pepper could only smile and follow him to the back, weaving through the tables, unlike him, who made a point of sliding across and over the last desktop, getting to his spot. He was going to take a seat in the corner against the wall, when a voice came from behind him, stopping him.

"Hey Tony!"

Pepper didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

Tony on the other hand did. He wasn't very good with putting faces to voices. Too many people talked to him on a daily basis, and he just stopped trying after a while. "….Oh, hey Maya. What's up?" he replied smoothly, giving her a friendly smile.

Pepper thought it was forced.

The girl was Maya Hansen. Pepper honestly didn't know too much about her, other than that she was an honour student and always won the class award for biology. Oh, also that she hooked up with Tony at a party last year. She definitely knew that much about her, since she saw it first hand.

"Oh nothing." Maya replied with a shrug, holding her books to her chest. "Just thought my biology partner for the past three years would still want to sit with me, but I guess not…?" she trailed off teasingly, looking to the seat Pepper was about to take, and then down to the floor.

Pepper felt something tick inside her. So what if they were partners for three years? She'd known Tony for nearly twelve years! She had quite the seniority over seats with Tony Stark in her opinion.

Tony gave a pained expression. "Oh yeah, well I mean- I was going to sit beside Pep." he shrugged, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

For a moment, Pepper smiled widely. She was glad he saw her above Maya, as …sad as that sounded. Though, it was nice to be someones first choice. Especially when it was Tony's.

Maya nodded, acknowledging Pepper with a little nod of her head and a smile. "Why don't you sit between the both of us then?"

Tony bit the inside of his lip. He liked sitting by the wall, he could lean his head against it when the lessons got boring and it's not like he was going to tell Pepper to move. "I…" he paused, glancing to Pepper, and then back to Maya. " Sorry but… the wall is kind of my thing." he said, hoping he was giving off an apologetic front. "You can sit beside Pepper though if you want?" he suggested.

After hearing Tony wasn't going to move, Pepper smiled a bit to herself before she took her seat on Tony's right.

If Maya was disappointed, she didn't show it. "Oh, okay." she said, and placed her books down next to Pepper.

Pepper honestly didn't have a problem with the girl. From what she'd heard she was genuinely nice and she was sure they'd get along fine. She just wasn't too fond of the idea that she somehow thought she had dibs on Tony.

Even if she did make out with him.

Tony nodded, glad that the situation got worked out and took his seat next to Pepper by the wall. He was about to say something before Maya cut him off. "Oh! Actually, I think I'm going to sit over there." she said, gesturing to the other side of the classroom.

Tony frowned and looked over to where she was, wondering what had suddenly changed her mind.

She noticed their struggle in seeing why she'd had the sudden change of heart and sighed. "With Aldrich." she clarified, looking over to the blonde haired boy wearing glasses much too large for his face who had now taken a seat at the front. He was currently all alone in his row of desks, and looked as though he was used to it. "He's new, but I've heard all about him."

"…Oh. Um, alright?" Tony said, acting as if he cared. "Have fun."

Maya gave a little smile before she pushed in her chair and walked over to Aldrich, who looked extremely surprised to see her talking to him.

One she was out of ear reach Tony snickered. "Well that's an odd couple."

Pepper turned to face him and couldn't help but agree. "She rebounds fast." she chuckled, straightening out the papers on her desk before looking up at him. "You know though, if you_ really _wanted to be her partner, it's fine. I mean, _three years _and all…" she muttered jokingly.

Tony nearly barked out a laugh. "Are you kidding me?" he brought his voice lower and leaned a little closer to her. "Sure she's smart, and a good partner, but I think she's a little more interested in… my biology. If you get what I'm saying." he said in a hushed tone.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "If I remember correctly, you were pretty interested in her …biology at one time." she replied just as quiet.

Tony brought his hand up to his face. "That was one time, and I was drunk, and I'm pretty sure she got the wrong idea."

"Oh, and what idea are people supposed to get when they kiss you?" she teased with a laugh.

Tony opened his mouth to say something and then closed it, knowing she had a point. So, he came back with a point of his own. "Why don't you kiss me and find out?"

Pepper nearly choked. "Tony!" she coughed out with a nervous laugh.

"Pepper!" Tony mimicked with a huge grin.

At that moment their teacher decided to stroll into the room, not looking surprised that Tony was the one he heard yelling.

"Ah, Mr. Stark, what a pleasure to have you back in my class." Came the sarcastic drawl of Mr. Stryder, catching the attention of the rest of the class. It went from being dead silent, to a fury of everyone pushing in their chairs at once, now sitting straight and looking attentively to the tall figure looming over the front desk. Pepper took the time to try and diffuse the blush she felt slowly spreading across her cheeks.

"Nice to see you too Mr. S." Tony shot back, raising his brows and giving him a grin.

The teacher stared back at him, looking as though he was resisting a roll of his eyes, before he sighed and glanced down to the clipboard now in hand.

Tony smirked and leaned over to Pepper. "He loves me."

Pepper on the other hand, did roll her eyes.

* * *

Biology class was nothing special. The teacher went over the attendance and the outline for the year and other than that not much else happened. …Not much besides Pepper coming to the conclusion that Tony must be wearing a new cologne. After she calmed down over the fact he'd just asked her to kiss him she noticed it. Every time he leaned over, or stretched or just… moved, she got a wave of this scent that could only be described as …delicious. She felt like asking him, or making a point of it somehow, but never got the chance.

It started to get so distracting that she was slightly relieved when the bell rang at the end of class. Tony was beginning to drive her insane, and not in the way he usually did. His new cologne (or what she assumed to be new) kept catching her off guard, and before she knew it she kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. The worst part of it all, was that he _noticed. _Every time Pepper looked at him he would look too, giving her a raise of his brows or a little smile. She'd always look away, acting as if her stomach hadn't just done a flip from a simple glance.

So, when they were finally able to leave their seats and head out to the next class, Pepper was more than happy to get some fresh air. Air that wasn't contaminated with Tony's ….perfect, scent. Although, she despite her thoughts, hadn't escaped it just yet.

"So what class do you have next?" Tony asked, coming to walk beside her in the hallway.

"Um, AP English with Mayer. You?" she replied, somewhat hoping and dreading that they would have that class together too.

"Metal shop." he said quickly, "Though now I'm thinking I should switch my schedule. How the hell did you end up with Mayer again?"

Pepper chuckled, knowing he was only kidding, or she at least hoped he was. Tony was known for his rather impulsive decisions. "I guess I just got lucky." she said with a shrug of her shoulder and a smile.

"You certainly did." he muttered, shaking his head in envy.

They walked the short ways down the hall to the english wing together and slowed down as they came up to Ms. Mayers room. "Well, this is me." Pepper pointed out with a sheepish grin, only rubbing it in a little bit.

"I'm aware, and jealous." he commented with frown, peeking in through the window by the door and spotting his favourite english teacher. "…Well, tell her I say hi." he sighed, looking back at her and tilting up a corner of his mouth. "And I'll be seeing you, at lunch?"

Pepper smiled and gave a little nod. "I will, and yes." she said, standing outside the door a little awkwardly. Tony was just staring at her, and it was making her a little self conscious. What could he be thinking? It certainly wasn't about her or what he'd mentioned earlier about her kissing him, right? Since that _totally_ wasn't what was on her mind right at this moment. "I'll um, see you then?" she asked raising a brow, completely masking her newfound inner turmoil.

Tony cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes before he seemed to snap back into it. "Uh yeah, yeah. Lunch. …See ya." he said, giving one last quick grin before he turned on his heel and went back into the hallway, just like this morning.

And once again, Pepper Potts was feeling conflicted.

**Hey! I was thrilled to see such a great response from the first chapter and couldn't wait to write more! Please leave a review and tell me your thoughts so far :) Also I've finally added a bio to my page, and put a link to my Tumblr on there if anyones interested. Thanks again! :) **


	3. Observing

**Chapter 3: Observing **

Tony walked down the hallway and gave himself a mental slap in the face. Staring was something that had gotten him in trouble more times than once, but never really with Pepper. Sure he'd pretended to check her out for a few laughs, or just to make her feel better about a certain outfit she'd asked for his opinion on, but what had just happened a few minutes ago was a different story. He thought zoning out and awkwardly staring at someone wasn't exactly his smoothest move. ...Not that he was trying to put moves on Pepper or anything. He just found today that she was very... stareable. Yeah, stareable was a good word.

It would be an understatement to say he was surprised that the set of legs that caught his eye this morning belonged to his best friend, and even more of a surprise to find out he wasn't dreaming. He always thought she was cute, beautiful in her own little dorky way, but the Pepper he saw this morning didn't remind him of the pretty little redhead that he called his best bud. No, this was quite the surprise. A pleasant surprise to say the least.

He thought he played it off pretty well, acting as if nothing had changed to him. He even got a hug out of his slyness, and couldn't help but feel somewhat of a success in doing so. He saw a few guys eye her down the hallway as well and felt a small wave of possession pass over him for the short period she was in his arms. She was his best friend, they had no business staring at her like... like he was.

And he really had no business staring at her like he had either. It was fine during their bio class, since they were both joking around as their eyes kept meeting here and there, but when he left for his metal shop class and her to her english, he just sort of blanked. Something came over him and it seemed to click and he froze. Maybe it happened over the summer, or maybe it had always been there, but in that moment, he felt widely conflicted with his feelings towards her.

And none of those feelings were bad ones.

In fact they were very good. Too good. Good enough to make him zone out once again and almost walk into his metalwork teacher Mr. Ferring.

"Oh, sorry." Tony mumbled, before he looked up and smiled once he saw who it was.

"Tony! Hey! Do I have the pleasure of having you in my class again?" came the excited cheer of Mr. Ferring. Unlike Mr. Stryder in bio, Mr. Ferring was genuinely pleased to see his best student returning to his class.

"You do actually, full term." Tony smiled, casually leaning against the doorframe to let a few more kids walk into the class.

"Good, good. I'll be looking forward to a year as great as lasts then?" the teacher asked with a knowing grin.

Tony laughed charmingly and gave a nod. "I'll try my best." he said, pushing himself off the door frame and walking into the class.

* * *

The school bell rang once again and soon enough it was time for lunch. Tony and Pepper had met each other in the cafeteria with the rest of their friends, including Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner.

Tony refused to eat the slop they served in the cafeteria and usually went out to buy something, but today seeing as it was the first and all, he brought his little brown paper bag with "Tony" scrawled across it in a sharpie. He'd never tell anyone, but if he ever asked, his mother was still more than willing to pack a lunch for him; just like she did today.

He sat at their table, waiting for them to get their gross cafeteria lunches and had a few brief conversations with some of his other friends. One included talking to Thor, the giant foreign kid that no one dared messing with on or off the football field. He was one of the popular jocks and since Tony occasionally hung out with the popular crew, they went to all the same parties as each other and ended up becoming friends somehow. Tony assumed alcohol had something to do with it, but they never seemed to talk about how their friendship came about much.

Thor had just stopped by to say hi and ask how his summer went before he went off to his table with his girlfriend Jane.

Tony waved him off and didn't have to wait long before Pepper came to sit beside him and Steve and Bruce were soon to follow. "Hey guys, long time no see." Tony grinned, raising his brows at Steve.

Bruce nodded, and took a bite of his mac n cheese, or what they promised to be mac n cheese. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" he asked, taking a few more bites.

"How was Italy?" Steve asked, "Visit any cool places?"

Tony hummed, taking a sip of his water. "We were going to go to some museum, but I got invited to the beach with a few girls I ran into at the hotel." he said with a shrug. "So, I snuck off basically. Spent the day there, which I guess could be classified as a cool place." he said, "But let me tell you, Italian girls, whew." he let out a whistle and waggled his brows suggestively.

"I'm Italian." Pepper blurted out, her eyes going wide for a moment before she quickly looked down and pushed around her food.

Tony raised a single brow and turned to her curiously, "Really?"

Pepper held back a blush and swallowed. "Well I ah, one of my grandpas was. So I guess, I'm partially? A quater?"

Tony seemed to be the only one genuinely intrigued by this. "Hm, wow. Good to know." he said with a little chuckle before he turned back to the guys.

Tony'd gotten himself into a conversation over the Leaning Tower of Pisa with Bruce, and in doing so had missed out on the furious blush that was now gracing Pepper's cheeks.

Steve, on the other hand, had noticed and raised a brow to his redheaded friend, wondering if there was a reason for her strange little outburst.

Pepper caught Steve looking at her and averted her eyes down to her food, and stayed that way for most of lunch, too embarrassed to look up again.

Tony hadn't really had a chance to notice her since he was too busy catching up with Bruce, and then Steve once he decided to leave Pepper alone. They talked about the beaches, the sightseeing and once again, the girls that had invited him out to party whenever he was able to.

"Wow, and your parents just let you go out with them?" Bruce asked, knowing he'd never be allowed to leave his parents sight if they ever took him on vacation.

Tony bit his bottom lip. "Well, let's not necessarily say 'allowed' it. But I found a way." he smirked.

"Wouldn't it be kind of challenging, with the language barrier?" Steve asked putting in his two cents.

Tony scoffed. "I can speak Italian." he explained, "And even if I couldn't, I think the international language could of gotten me by just fine too."

It was Pepper's turn to frown. "…International language?" she asked not knowing what he meant.

Tony chuckled to himself and turned to face her, "Body language." he purred, pumping his brows in her direction.

Pepper smirked and closed her eyes, laughing softly to herself and trying not to blush again from his sultry tone. "Of course."

* * *

Lunch ended rather quickly, and they all headed back to their separate classes. Pepper ended up going to her accounting class and found that her friend Natasha was also in that class.

They talked for a little while between instructions from their new teacher, and Pepper learned that her and Clint had gone out to lunch together today, that being the reason for his absence at their table. Clint was better friends with the group than Natasha was, but everyone knew who she was, of course.

Other than that, nothing too spectacular had happened.

The bell rang finally ending their double block class and after a short visit to her locker Pepper made her way to the front of the school.

She normally drove herself to school, but this morning her father opted to drive her. She didn't realize at the time that would mean taking the school bus home.

She sighed as she watched the old yellow deathtrap pull into the parking lot and a few of the younger kids pile into it. She hated the school bus. It smelled, made her car sick, and was full of annoying little kids.

She was too far away to walk home, and without a car, it seemed like her only option. Dejected, she began walking over to the rusty machine but stopped when she saw something. Or, someone.

Tony was standing on the sidewalk talking with a few of the cheerleaders, one being his ex girlfriend. Well, now that she thought about it, a few of them might had been ex girlfriends. Anyways, with them all wearing their matching letterman jackets, Tony stuck out like a sore thumb in his plain v-neck she swooned over this morning.

She took a quick glance into the parking lot and felt her stomach flip when she noticed Tony's car was there, and perhaps she could catch a ride home with him.

She began walking over to the group surrounding Tony, and the second he saw her he grinned and waved her over. If it was one thing Tony did well, it was always making her feel welcome. Even if he was in a group she wouldn't dare hangout with.

"Hey Pep, what's goin on?" he asked casually, causing a few of the girls that hadn't noticed her approach quiet down.

"Hey, I was actually wondering if I could get a ride home?" she said, looking to him hopefully.

Tony furrowed his brows. "Where's your car?"

"My dad dropped me off." she shrugged. "And I don't particularity want to take… that." she said, pointing to the bus.

Tony glanced over to their direction as did the group of girls. He wrinkled his nose and the cheerleaders all winced at the thought of even touching something as grimy as the bus, let alone taking it.

"Ew, yeah. No, you're riding with me." he said, taking his sunglasses out of his shirt and unfolding them, before putting them on. "Alright, well I'll see you ladies tomorrow." he smirked before turning to Pepper with a genuine smile and walking off.

A collective. "_Bye Tony_." could be heard as they made their way into the parking lot.

Pepper felt like rolling her eyes but decided against it. She didn't want to seem jealous, because she wasn't. At all.

"Thank you for saving me." Tony said, with a dramatic gasp once they were out of earshot.

Pepper furrowed her brows. If anything she should be the one thanking Tony for saving _her_. "Really? You looked like you were enjoying yourself."

Tony lifted up his sunglasses to stare at her as they came around to his red audi, "I don't know about you, but is standing in a circle full of your ex's and their friends an ideal situation for you?"

Pepper just grinned, finding her earlier assumptions to be correct and got into the passenger seat of his car.

Tony got in quickly and shut the door, sighing as they got away from the chatter of outside. He started up the engine and began backing out of his parking spot and soon enough they were on their way home.

"You know, I just realized this now." Tony began, tapping the steering wheel as they waited at a red light. "Clint wasn't with us at lunch today, was he?"

Pepper resisted the urge to laugh. "Always the observant one." she chided, getting comfortable in her seat. "He was out to lunch, with Natasha."

Tony nodded at first, but then chewed on his bottom lip, "...Natasha, which one was she again?"

"His girlfriend?" Pepper tried, turning to look at him.

"Wait, Clint has a girlfriend?" Tony said suddenly, sounding rather surprised.

"Oh, yeah. He does now." she chuckled, only realizing now that it happened during the summer and Tony wasn't aware. "It's Natasha Romanoff, that Russian redheaded girl, gymnastics team…" she trailed off, hoping he'd remember.

"Ohhh! Natasha!" he said, nodding his head. "Wait a minute, _Clint _snagged her?" he laughed to himself. "Wow, lucky guy. She's pretty hot."

It was no secret to her that Natasha was attractive. Most of the guys she knew drooled over her a some point and she was surprised Tony hadn't tried something on her already.

Tony glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, wondering why she didn't reply. "What? You don't think so?"

Pepper rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I don't know, I mean, I know a lot of guys think so."

Tony nodded, "Of course they do. She's a redhead. Redheads are hot."

Pepper swallowed, feeling her heart skip a beat. Did he just, inadvertently call her hot then? Because she was definitely red haired, and he reminded her of that plenty of times. She could count more times than not when he teased her over not having a soul.

She didn't exactly know what to say. Perhaps he didn't mean her, maybe she was just the exception. She was always an exception, so now why would now be any different?

Because she didn't want to be an exception. She wanted him to find her attractive, because she sure as hell thought he was now.

She was going to open her mouth and say something or switch the subject onto something else, but he stopped her when he turned over to look at her and threw her a wink.

The wink meaning she was included, the wink meaning that Tony Stark found Pepper Potts under his list of hot redheads.

She'd be lying to say she wasn't thrilled.

A small smiled settled over her lips, though she gave him a scoff and chuckled slightly to ease the slightly awkward air around them.

He grinned back at her and brought his attention to the road once again. He'd turned down her dead end street and pulled right into her driveway. Quite the timing, as the conversation could of gotten a little more awkward if time had gone on.

Pepper picked her books off the floor of his car and was about to say something when he beat her to it.

"Do you wanna come over tomorrow?" he asked, lifting his sunglasses off his face and into his hair.

Pepper opened the door, and stepped out, gathering her things. "After school?" she clarified.

"Yeah, just like old times." he grinned. "I'll get my mom to buy some juice boxes for us." he teased with a little chuckle.

It wasn't that Tony and her didn't go to each others houses as often once they got into high school. They just hadn't really hung out _alone_ as often. Occasionally they would still do so, but it was usually waiting for another friend to come over, or for them to all head out somewhere together. It had been a while since she'd gone to his house without Steve or Bruce, or even Rhodey there too.

"Ooh, that's tempting." she chuckled, holding onto the edge of his car door, books now in hand. "I think I'll have to come." she smiled, "Just for the juice though." she said, closing the door and looking at him through the open window now.

Tony smirked and put back on his glasses, giving her a nod. "Alright, I'll try not to disappoint."

Pepper smiled back at him and gave a little wave. "Then I'll be looking forward to it." she said, beginning to step away from his car. "Thanks for the ride."

Tony grinned and put his car in reverse. "Anytime Potts. See ya tomorrow."

"Bye Tony." she said, and with that he pulled out of her driveway and sped down her street.

**Hello! Well, I put a part of this in Tony's POV after quite a few requests for it! Please tell me what you think! :) **


	4. Not A Thing

**Chapter 4: Not A Thing **

Tony had gotten home rather quickly from Peppers house since he chose to ignore most of the roadsigns alerting him of the legal limit to drive. Somehow he had made it home safely and without a ticket from the police though and was now walking into his kitchen for an afternoon snack. He went directly to the fridge and squinted through his options, also looking to see if for some reason they had any juice boxes.

They didn't.

He needed to get on that immediately.

"Mom?!" he called out, face still in the fridge looking for something to eat. "Mom?"

His voice seemed to echo in the relatively empty household. It was a ridiculously sized mansion for a family of three and Tony often wondered what it would be like living in a home without so much empty space.

He kept his musings to himself though as he grabbed the carton of milk and went to the cupboard to grab himself a glass, wondering if his mother was even home.

She usually went out during the day, and Tony wondered if it was because she couldn't stand the emptiness either.

Maybe they should get a dog or something. Dogs made places feel more home-y right? He didn't have any proof of that, seeing as though he was never allowed a pet, but whenever he was at Peppers house and was greeted by her little border collie he felt a bit more at home. Then again, that could of been because of Pepper too. Sometimes Pepper's house felt more like home than his own did.

With a sigh, he grabbed some pizza pops from the freezer and imagined what it would be like to always have someone waiting for you at home, dog or not.

"Tony?" Came the delayed call of Maria Stark, her heels clicking down the hardwood and into the kitchen where Tony stood by the microwave, waiting for his snack to cook.

"Hey mom." he said with a smile, "I didn't know if you were home."

"I was upstairs." she replied distractedly, reaching for her purse on her side and rummaging through it.

"Oh," Tony said, trying not to sound dejected as he didn't seem to be the center of her attention. "Um, looking for something?" he asked, going to the counter and taking a sip of his milk.

"Uhm… Yes... you're father left a list of a few things he wanted picked up at the store. He said he gave it to me, but I can't seem to find it." she said with a frustrated sigh.

"Oh." Tony said again, though this time with much more spite in his tone once hearing word of his father. "Is he sure he gave it to you?"

Tony's mom nodded and ran her hand through her hair in exasperation. "Yes, he was very sure, though I can't remember him even mentioning it."

Tony hummed and rolled his eyes. His father had mistakenly blamed him for losing things he swore he'd never even touched in the past. He wouldn't be surprised if he did it again. "Why can't he just write another list."

"He said I-" Maria was about to reply, when she suddenly frowned, and glanced to her son. Something had clicked."Oh, Tony! I'm sorry, I completely forgot, how was your first day?" she said, looking to him sympathetically, also hoping to change the subject.

Tony smirked, and rolled his shoulders catching the conversation changer. "Smooth." he said, giving his mother an easy going smile. His father gave her a hard enough time, he didn't need to give her a guilt trip of his own for not asking about his day. "And it was good. Really good, actually. I caught up with Pepper finally."

Relief washed over Maria's face, "I'm glad to hear." she said, taking a moment not to worry about the note and to focus on Tony. "How is Pepper?"

"Great." he said, turning behind him as the microwave beeped for his pizza pockets. "I invited her over tomorrow."

Maria went back to searching in her purse, beginning to empty it out on the counter. "Oh really? That's nice." she said, "Just her? Or will I be seeing the other boys too?"

"Just her." Tony said, grabbing the plate in the microwave and taking it out.

"Oh, really?" she asked, looking up from her purse to look at him, paying more attention. "It's been a while since it's been just her over."

"I know." Tony said, him being the distracted one now as he poked his pizza pocket, testing for heat.

Maria nodded, and thought over Tony's friend for a moment. She liked having Pepper over. She was always polite, and offered to help whenever she could. Most importantly though, she seemed to be able to make Tony at his happiest. She often wondered if the two of them were ever more than what they came off as, but never questioned Tony on the matter. At least not too seriously. "Well, I know this rule has never been applied to Pepper, but now that you're older..." she began, "I want you to keep your bedroom door open when you're both up there, alright?"

Tony was just about to take a bite when his mom pulled that one on him. He spluttered and coughed, nearly choking on the cheesy goodness just inches from his mouth. "Mom!" he shouted, looking to her like she was crazy.

Maria laughed, and shook her head. "I'm just kidding around Tony." she said with a little smile. "Though the rule did apply to all girls in your room. Why should she be any different?"

"Do you really not trust me behind a closed door with Virginia Potts?" he said, looking flatly to his mother as he walked to the sink to get some paper towels. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure if he could trust himself behind a closed door. Maybe it would be best to keep the door open when she came over. That way he would feel less tempted to... do anything. Or have thoughts about doing something. Not that he was thinking about doing anything to Pepper Potts.

"I don't know, can I trust Virginia Potts behind a closed door with my son?" she countered, only teasingly.

Tony smirked, "Very funny." he said, and got a few pieces of paper. Just before he was going to turn for the counter though, something caught his eye. There crumpled by the sink, was a small piece of paper that looked like it had his fathers scrawl on it. "Hey, I think I found dad's list..." he said, picking up the note and trying his best to uncrumple it.

As he read it over, he found it was in fact a list. A list that seemed to be solely compiled of alcohol with SCOTCH x6 underlined three times at the top. Scotch always was his fathers favourite, and he found himself acquiring a bit of a taste for it too. Six bottles of it did seem excessive though. "I'm assuming he's running out?" he sighed, and handed the crumpled chicken scratch over to his mother. He could of sworn he saw a full bottle on his fathers desk yesterday.

"Oh." she said, surprised and taking the note from Tony. "I... don't remember ever seeing this." she said, reading it over and sighing to herself. "And I'm sorry _you_ had to see this."

Tony frowned and grabbed his plate. "Why? It's not like I didn't know he's an alcoholic."

Maria wanted to chastise Tony for speaking about his father in such a manner, but she knew ultimately that he was right. "Tony." she sighed, not really wanting to fight him over it.

He just raised his brows at her and took a sip of his milk. "Oh, actually that reminds me. While you're out buying all that alcohol, could you pick up some juice boxes as well?"

It was Maria's turn to raise her brows from such an odd response. "...Um, sure? Did you want those in your lunches instead of water?" she tried.

Tony shook his head. "No, no. Well. Actually, now that I think about it yes, that'd be great. But ah, that's not the reason why. It's sort of an inside joke between Pepper and I. She said she would only come over if there were juice boxes, like when we were younger." he explained with a little smile.

Maria was glad to see the grimace slip off her sons face the instant he began talking of Pepper, and gave him a nod. "I'll be sure to pick some up then." she smiled softly.

"Thanks." he said, taking his plate and beginning to walk out of the kitchen.

* * *

The next day at school was relatively boring for Tony. He went to Pepper's locker as usual and walked her to class. Nothing too exciting had happened in her life since they last saw each other, and he wasn't about to tell her that his mom thinks they're dating like the rest of the world.

They didn't have much time to talk in biology since it was the first real day of class, and it was mostly all notes. Biology wasn't Tony's favourite subject, since there wasn't much math involved. He found it was mostly memory, compared to his other science classes he was taking. He wasn't about to complain though. An easy class and Pepper were two good things to have together. It mean't more talking for him, and more frustration for her. And everyone loves a redhead with a temper.

They had parted ways once again after biology though, and met up at lunch. Tony showed off his box of grape juice to her with a grin, keeping his promise of earlier and she laughed.

"You know i still would of come over, even without the juice." she said with a little chuckle.

Tony laughed too. "I know, but now you _have_ to since my mother went out of her way to please you."

"I don't _have_ to do anything." Pepper smirked and gently nudged his leg under the table.

Tony raised his brows to her and nudged her back looking at her as if saying, "What?"

She frowned and bumped his leg back again, her clearly saying, "Stop it."

Though he didn't stop, and they ended up playing footsie underneath the lunch table until the rest of their friends came and sat down around them.

When Tony saw Clint of the first time, he immediately drawled, "_Cliiiiint_." and stood up, holding his hand out to the other boy.

Clint hesitantly outstretched his own arm and took his hand, receiving a firm shake from Tony. "Uh, I missed you too bud?" Clint said, taking his hand back and sitting down beside Steve.

"No." Tony said, also sitting back down. "That's for getting with Natasha."

The corner of Clint's mouth lifted up into half of a grin, "Oh, yeah. You heard?"

"Sure did." he smirked. "Proud of you, didn't think you had it in you."

"….Didn't think I had what in me?" Clint asked carefully, wondering if Tony was being condescending.

"I don't know, the balls to ask her out. I mean, she's a ten. At you're a… you know… " he teased, getting a laugh from the rest of his buds.

Clint let himself laugh at that too, though he wasn't about to just let that one slide. "I think someone sounds a little jealous." he said, raising one brow challengingly to his friend across the table.

Tony scoffed, "Jealous, why would I be jealous?"

Clint shrugged, "I don't know. You said it yourself. She's a ten."

"Sure she's a ten." he said. "But... I've got my own ten right here." Tony said, looking over to Pepper with a wild grin and throwing his arm around her shoulders.

Though their friends could tell Tony was only joking, they couldn't help but wonder. As much as they tried to prove themselves to only be friends, doing things like this really didn't help their case.

While Tony was looking amused, and giving Pepper's shoulder a squeeze, Pepper was blushing furiously, and glaring daggers at him.

She took his hand on her shoulder and unwrapped his arm from her, as much as she would have liked to keep it there, if her face went any more red she felt like she'd pop a blood vessel. "Funny." she replied flatly, hoping that would cover a bit of her flustered appearance. "But I don't belong to anybody but myself." she said with a calm little grin of her own.

The guys all smirked at her witty response, knowing Pepper was the best at deflecting Tony's little flirtatious moves.

Seeing as though Tony didn't have a comeback for that though, they soon lost interest in the couple across from them and found more interest in their cafeteria food.

And just as Pepper thought she could finally turn back to her regular pale face, Tony leaned in close to her, right up to her ear and whispered. "Yet."

**Hellooo :) Here's some more of Tony's POV! Please leave a review and let me know what you think! **


	5. Kiss Me

**Chapter 5: Kiss Me**

The bell had rang, and Tony had gone off to his next class, leaving an extremely flustered Pepper at their lunch table. She didn't have much time to form a response after he uttered his highly inappropriate…. promise? Threat? Proposition? She didn't know what to call it. All she knew was that it ran shivers down her spine and made her stomach flip in ways she hadn't known possible.

She didn't even look in his direction after he moved away from her ear, even though her mind was begging her to at least steal a glance at him to see if he was kidding or not. Normally in a situation like this she would hope for the latter… but now, she wasn't so sure. Just having Tony that close to her was making her feel things towards him she certainly had never felt before. At least not at this high of an intensity.

"Yet" What does that even mean? Of course she knew it was because of her earlier statement, of not belonging to anybody… but did that mean that he wanted her to belong to him? Not necessarily, but would it be such a bad thing if Pepper hoped that it did? He already admitted that he thought she was hot, was this just the next step in his plans?

Pepper had to shake her head. She was asking herself too many questions and was making her self even more flustered than before.

If there was one thing she learned in her few years as a teenager, it was never to assume with boys. At that's exactly what she was doing now.

She shouldn't assume that by his flirtatious remark that Tony Stark wanted her. And even if he did, she shouldn't get her hopes up. Tony Stark wanted a lot of girls, why would she be any different.

With a heavy sigh, she got up from the table and began walking to her long block class till the end of the day, nearly forgetting her plans after school.

* * *

Tony on the other hand, had not forgotten their plans, and couldn't wait to get out of his last block class to meet up with Pepper. He waited in his normal spot by the sidewalk, underneath the shade that the few trees planted in the front offered. A few girls passed him by, sending him flirtatious winks or alluring _"Bye Tony's" _and a few of the guys also said their goodbye's either with a pat to his shoulder or a shake of his hand.

He went along with all of it, though all he really cared about was seeing a certain redhead break through the crowd at the front doors and find her way to his side.

He didn't have to wait very long.

Soon enough Pepper was weaving through her classmates and politely trying to excuse her way up to Tony, who was smiling in amusement at her.

"I was wondering if you were gonna get out of there alive." he teased with a little grin, slipping on his sunglasses as they walked with each other to his car.

"People don't seem to understand the words "excuse me" any more." she replied with a sigh.

Tony shrugged, "Sometimes you just gotta walk with your elbows up." he mused, "Then people will get out of your way."

Pepper chuckled softly at the idea of her doing so, and just couldn't quite picture it. "Is that what you do?"

"Nah. People part like the red sea the second they see me coming."

Pepper rolled her eyes, "I'm sure they do." she hummed, keeping up with his quick pace to his parking space in the back. Or, well, two parking spaces.

"_Really_?" she commented, staring at his car that was parked diagonally right through the lines.

"What?" he frowned, lifting up his glasses as if to inspect the lines that his car was clearly overlapping. He didn't see a problem.

"Oh you know exactly what." she said, walking to the passenger door and getting inside.

Tony smirked to himself and got in the drivers side, closing his door and looking to her. "I get called a douche often enough, why not start parking like one?" he shrugged as if that was enough to justify his actions.

"You didn't take up three parking spaces yesterday."

"Two," he corrected, and put his arm on the back of her seat as he twisted around and began backing out. "And yesterday I was a little late. Some other douche took my spot."

"Your two spots." she corrected right back.

"…Yes."

"You're incorrigible."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It wasn't a compliment."

"I'm still taking it as one."

Pepper huffed out a sigh and shook her head.

Tony grinned, glad he'd won their little quarrel and grinned to himself.

The ride was ridden in a comfortable silence for Tony, but what was going on in Pepper's mind was anything but peaceful. Thoughts of lunch kept creeping into her head, and how that one stupid word Tony uttered made her heart drop more than it ever had before.

She wasn't sure if she should bring it up, or just leave it.

He was joking, it was a joke, he'd think it would be weird if she brought it up, right?

No, she couldn't just let it slide. He was her best friend, they were allowed to talk about things like this. Bottling things up was never a good idea, she told Tony that on multiple occasions, perhaps it was time she took her own advice.

"Tony what did you mean when you said "yet" at lunch?" Pepper blurted out of the blue.

Tony furrowed his brows, that completely catching him off guard. "Uh wow, that was delayed." he said, stealing a glance over to her and meeting her gaze fleetingly. "Um, I don't know." he lied. "I was just kidding around." he shrugged. "To get a rise out of you."

Pepper felt her mood dampen slightly. She got what she was expecting, and didn't understand why his refusal to it being genuine made her a little more than upset. "Oh."

Tony looked over to her again and definitely caught her tone of voice. "Yeah." he said, "You know I'm just joking with you." he said, giving her a smile as they came to a stop sign. "That and I love seeing you blush."

Pepper instantly forgot about her damped mood and grew infuriated. "I did not blush."

Tony chuckled, glad that he'd gotten some other emotion out of her. "You so did."

Pepper stayed silent and crossed her arms, though a small smile was tugging at her lips.

"Don't lie, the thought of you being mine makes you blush." he said, smirking over to her.

"The lights green, Tony."

"Don't try and change the subject."

"You're holding up traffic."

"I could really care less."

"The lights going to turn red."

"Red like your cheeks?"

"Tony!"

Tony laughed and sped through the intersection. "I'll take that as a yes." he chuckled to himself.

Pepper was silent the rest of the way home, but that hint of a smile never left her lips.

* * *

Tony had parked his car in the garage and grabbed more than enough juice boxes for them before they made their way up to his room. He called out for his mother but didn't get a reply back.

Pepper noticed the slight change in his demeanour once finding that his mother hadn't responded, though she didn't say anything. She just walked into his room, just like old times and found her favourite spot on his couch, right in front of his TV.

Tony followed after her, and looked to the door. He remember his conversation with his mother earlier, and debated over closing the door or not.

He glanced to Pepper, and then back to the door before he closed it all the way.

"Do you think it's weird how you're the only girl I'm allowed to have in here with the door closed?" he asked casually, dropping the juice boxes on the table in front of them before sitting beside Pepper on the couch.

Pepper raised her brows to him and reached over to the coffee table, snagging a box. "Well, I'm sure my parents wouldn't be okay with it." she began with a little chuckle. "But no, I don't think it's weird."

Tony looked to her and raised a brow, sticking a straw in his own juice.

"I mean, it's not like we're doing anything." she said with a slightly nervous chuckle, hoping Tony knew what she meant.

Tony nodded in understanding. "You're right." he said, taking a long sip of his juce. "…So, let's change that… and do something." he suggested.

Pepper felt her heart sink. "Ah wha-"

"COD or Halo, you choose." he said, getting up and moving over to his xbox.

Pepper managed to catch her breath, sighing in relief. "Um, Halo. Please." she said, recovering from her near heart attack at what she thought Tony was suggesting.

"You got it." he said, placing the disk in.

It doesn't take long for Tony to get them into a private match, and soon enough their juice boxes were forgotten as the both of them became completely fixated on the screen.

Sometimes they would play together, other times they would verse online, but there was something satisfying about playing against one another in a small map.

It was fun, and nearly always brought out the worst of their competitive sides since it was so personal.

They were currently tied with eight kills each, but Pepper was winning since Tony killed himself once trying to do a trick shot.

"That's what you get for showing off." Pepper smirked, checking the score. "What do you know, you've put me in the lead."

Tony brought his eyes away from the screen momentarily to glance over at her. "What about… now?" he asked, and just before they were both going to shoot each other Tony reached over to her side of the couch and knocked her controller out of her hands. He quickly got the shot off and chuckled as it put them back at even points.

"What the hell Tony!" Pepper exclaimed, picking up her controller and glaring over at him.

"All's fair in love and war." he grinned, getting ready for his next attack.

Pepper held back a growl and got back into the game. She felt like slapping _him_, let alone his controller, but decided she was going to be the better person and not cheat.

That was, until he started winning.

He was a few points ahead of her now, and every time she glanced over at him he had that same stupid grin across his face.

She was going to change that.

She scooted a little closer to him on the couch and bumped his shoulder.

It didn't seem to faze him, but it did get a reaction. "Is that all you've got Potts?" he smirked, and bumped her shoulder right back.

She didn't reply, but she did bump him again, this time with her leg.

Tony kept his eyes on the screen and bumped her back once again.

Pepper needed a different approach, so she took her elbow and nudged him in the side with it.

That finally got a reaction.

"Ow, hey." he said, with a grimace, though his eyes kept to the screen, still managing to shoot her once again.

Pepper sighed. She didn't think she'd have to resort to this, but now it really seemed like the only way.

She waited for the perfect moment, and just when they were about to engage, Pepper reached over to smack Tony's controller.

Except, Tony saw it coming and managed to grab her hand.

But that wasn't all he did.

Once he captured one hand, he reached over and grabbed her other as well, their controllers falling to the ground.

Pepper gasped in surprised and tried to wiggle away from him but his grasp was too strong.

"You're a cheater." he said,pausing for a moment before he let go of her hands began to tickle her sides, his fingers poking her and dancing up her ribs.

"Tony!" she yelled, though it was masked with laughter. She squirmed away from his hands, baking herself into the corner of the couch.

Tony brought his knees up and continued poking her, laughing as he nearly came on top of her. "I didn't think you would stoop down to my level." he grinned, continuing to prod her sides.

Pepper kept trying to move away from him, but with him basically hovering over her, it was becoming increasingly harder to do so. "Well, I-" she had to stop, as he reached under her arms and made her shriek from laughter. She kicked him then, causing him to go back to her sides. "I do like to get _even._" she managed out, and with that, gave him a hard shove in the chest, knocking him off of her.

Tony wasn't expecting her to push him as hard as she did, and he fell right backwards onto the couch, eyes going wide.

Pepper took his surprise to her advantage and immediately came on top of_ him _ and grabbed his hands, holding them above his head.

Tony's eyes were still as wide as ever, not expecting the role reversal in the slightest.

She didn't tickle him though, she just… stared at him.

And he stared right back.

Everything began to come back into focus for Pepper. The fact that she was basically straddling him, their hands were now interlaced above his head, and they hadn't taken their eyes off of each other.

For some strange reason, she didn't feel like pulling away.

So she didn't.

Their game of halo in the background was as motionless as they were right now.

But then, Tony smiled.

And Pepper smiled back.

He gave her hands in his a gentle squeeze and raised his brows to her. He wasn't going to move until she did, and only half of that reason was because he physically couldn't.

She stared down at him for a little while longer and found that her gaze had some how settled onto his lips, rather than his eyes where they were just a few seconds ago. How did that happen? Surely, she didn't want to kiss him.

"Woah, are you going to kiss me?" Tony asked from underneath her.

Now she definitely didn't want to kiss him.

She immediately frowned and got off of him, releasing his hands and crawling away from his legs. "What? No are you kidding me?"

Tony shrugged, propping himself up on his elbows as if it wasn't such a big deal. "Your eyes were on my lips."

Pepper scoffed and looked over to him as he began to sit back up to the way they were before. "Don't flatter yourself."

Tony turned up a corner of his lip and turned on the couch so he was facing her now, their knees almost touching. "I'm not. I was just wondering. …Were you thinking about kissing me?" he asked again, his voice strangely soothing in the awkward atmosphere now surrounding them.

Pepper raised her brows to him, wondering what he was trying to get at. "No, I wasn't thinking about kissing you." she repeated.

Tony gave a few nods and looked down to his hands. "Alright." he said, "What about… not just there?" he tried, "Have you… _ever _wanted to kiss me?"

Pepper swallowed. "Tony." she said sternly, looking to him and keeping up her facade.

"Will you just answer the question?" he said, raising his brows to her with a soft chuckle. "If you don't answer, I'm going to have to assume it's a yes."

Pepper sighed and glanced to the multiple forgotten juice boxes on the table. It reminded her why she was here in the first place. They were friends, best friends, hanging out. They weren't supposed to be asking… questions like these.

"Tony, we're best friends." she began.

"Yes." he agreed.

"So why are you asking me things like this?" she nearly pleaded.

"Because I want to know if my best friend wants to kiss me." he shrugged. "So, do you want t-"

"I don't know." she said, interrupting him.

"...You don't know?" he repeated.

"I don't know."

"Okay…" he replied slowly. "You don't know… if you've ever wanted to kiss me…"

Pepper sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before she turned to him, facing him just like he was to her. She decided she might as well go along with whatever Tony wanted, because denying things wasn't really working in her favour. "Yes, I don't know." she replied honestly.

Tony nodded, looking quite content with that answer. "Well ...would you like to find out?"

All sorts of warning bells began to go off in Pepper's mind, her heart fluttered dangerously and she felt herself swallow. How was he being so calm right now while talking about all of this?

What she didn't know, was that Tony's palms were sweating more than he could of imagined, and he kept subtly wiping them on his jeans. "So?"

"And I would find out how, exactly?" she questioned carefully.

"Simple, really." he said, grinning. "Kiss me."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Yes it does."

"No, it really doesn't."

"Pepper, this could be a once in a life time chance, Tony Stark asking you to kiss him."

"You asked me to kiss you yesterday in bio." she deadpanned.

"But now I'm being serious." he countered.

"Does this mean that_ you_… _want _me to kiss you?" she asked.

"I don't know."

Pepper rolled her eyes and let out a huff. "Well now we've come full circle, haven't we."

Tony nodded, "Yes, that's why I'm suggesting you kiss me."

"So we can find out, if either of us want to kiss each other." she finished.

Tony nodded, and scooted a little closer to her. "Yes."

Pepper couldn't believe this was happening right now. She'd always been on the receiving end of Tony's friendship, but never his advances. At least, not the most serious ones. Yet here they were, sitting on his couch in his room with him asking her to kiss him.

"So we're going to kiss to find out." Pepper clarified.

"Yes." Tony said again, his hand creeping over to hers and taking hers in his.

Pepper pulled away from him. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know, I thought that would help." he said sheepishly.

"So you want to kiss me, and hold my hand now?"

"I don't know." he shrugged.

Pepper felt like pulling out her hair. "If I hear "I don't know" one more time, I'm going to leave."

"I won't say it again." he promised. "Just kiss me."

And so she did.

She leaned forward and before she could tell herself not to, she brought her lips to meet his. They only stayed there for a second or two though before she pulled back, not exactly sure what to feel.

Tony stared at her wide eyed once they broke away. "…You call that a kiss?"

Pepper's eyebrows hit the roof, he did not just insult her after nearly begging her to kiss him. "I'm sorry?"

"I don't think that could even be classified as a peck." he said.

Pepper was speechless.

"I get longer kisses than that from my grandmother." he smirked, "We're going to have to try that again."

Pepper was about to get up and leave, or smack him, something to let him know that she did not appreciate how he was speaking to her just now.

But then she saw his smile, and everything seemed to click.

"Are you being a jerk, or do you just want to kiss me again?"

Tony chuckled a little and gave her a smile. "I just want to kiss you again." he admitted, his tone considerably softer now.

Pepper hated herself for it, but she allowed a little smile too. "I still think you're a jerk."

**Please review and tell me what you think! **


	6. Not Long Enough

**Chapter 6: Not Long Enough**

"So, are we gonna kiss again or not?" Tony asked, already beginning to lean into her.

Pepper rolled her eyes but found herself being drawn towards his lips once he showed the interest.

Even though their first kiss was very short, Tony was already growing excited for what this had to offer. This new… side of Pepper, the one that showed interest in him for more than a friend. It was exciting and scary and it made his heart race in ways he hadn't felt in a while.

It didn't take very long for their lips to find each others again. This time with a bit more precision and lack of hesitation on both parts. Everything was always easier the second time, anyways.

They had only been kissing for about a moment and a half before Pepper pulled back again, leaving Tony dumbfounded and wanting more. He stared at her, feeling like that was much too premature, and raised his brows to her, wondering if something was wrong.

"So, do you know if you want to really kiss me yet?" Pepper asked, her hands falling to her lap as she watched him.

Tony knew the answer to her question, but that didn't mean he couldn't play around with her a bit. He knew the right thing would be to tell her, but he couldn't pass up a chance like this. It's not every day someone gets thrown into a situations such as this with their best friend and it was his duty to abuse it as much as possible.

"Uhm, no actually… I don't." he began, lying easily as he hid his interest toward her and even adding a careless little shrug of his shoulders for emphasis. "But I think it's because you keep pulling away so quickly."

"Pulling away too quickly?" Pepper questioned, "I thought this was only supposed to be a test, to see if we actually wanted to kiss each other. …Which still makes zero sense."

Tony gave another shrug. "The test needs to be more thorough then."

Pepper raised a brow."…Thorough?" she asked carefully, clearly not liking the sounds of that word. "How do you make a kiss more thorough? Surely you don't expect me to-"

"Stop." Tony said, holding his hand up and not letting her finish that sentence. "It's not like I'm asking you to french me or anything. I just mean-"

"Okay, just the way you used the term _french_ is making me not want to do this."

Tony rolled his eyes at her. "Would you let me finish? I was going to say, just… count to ten or something before you pull away." he said, his voice considerably softer. "Is that alright?"

Pepper paused and just stared at him for a while longer. Their gazes met and she noticed that for once there didn't seem to be any hint of devious intention hidden behind his eyes. A rare notion, one that made her feel slightly more at ease. Maybe he truly did just need more time before he came to a conclusion about her. Hell, maybe she needed that too. So, with a defeated sigh she gave him a nod. "…Ten?"

"Yeah ten." he repeated, "Just ten seconds, it's not gonna kill you." he said, giving her a quick little grin before he began leaning toward her for the third time today.

Pepper managed to give him a little smile in return, and meet him once again at the middle.

Their lips had just barely brushed past each others when Tony quickly pulled back.

"What the heck?" Pepper frowned, hoping he wasn't playing games with her. "You just said-"

"I know." he dismissed, shaking his head. "This is just… it's an awkward position, don't you think?"

They were both perched on the edge of the couch, turned towards each other and their knees almost touching.

Pepper honestly didn't find it that bad. "Well what would you suggest be better?"

Tony hadn't planned that far ahead, though quickly a wicked idea entered his mind making him grin. "Well, my bed is just over there…"

Pepper blew out a puff of air. "Second kiss and he's already trying to get me into bed." she sighed, "What did I expect."

Tony smirked, "Third, actually." he corrected. "And I'm just saying it would be more comfortable."

Pepper shook her head. "We're staying here."

Tony sighed and let his shoulders droop. "Fine. But, can I at least… put my arm around you or something?"

Pepper chewed on her bottom lip, debating over it. "...I think that would just make things more awkward." she decided.

Tony stayed silent and tried not to look too dejected. "Fine then." he blurted out. "Just like this then."

"Yes…" she began, and a little hesitantly reached her hand out and let it land on his shoulder. "Just ten seconds."

He could feel the heat coming off of her hand through his t-shirt, and he glanced to it momentarily before he felt himself being pulled towards her.

This he could get used to.

As she pulled him closer he let his one hand fall to her knee and the other go to her waist, their lips connecting softly.

Two whole seconds had passed and Pepper hadn't pulled away, breaking their record already.

He imagined her concentrating, counting the numbers in her head, making sure not to go over or under ten. That would be a very Pepper thing to do.

He tried counting alongside her, but by the time he'd gotten to six he lost count, suddenly overwhelmed by the fact of truly kissing Pepper Potts.

They both weren't new to the whole kissing scene since they'd both had their share of relationships throughout their high school career, but the fact that it was _them_ and they were kissing after _all these years_ both made them a little stiff.

Even so, Pepper must have grown a little more comfortable as the seconds ticked on because she scooted a little closer to Tony and the hand on his shoulder began sliding over to his neck.

Things were coming together now, this was good.

Tony's hand on her waist flattened out a bit and he moved closer too, having to adjust his lips on hers in doing so.

Her top lip was currently between his two, and as he leaned a little more into her he tilted his head to the side, their lips making a soft smacking sound as they came apart and met again.

It was really such an innocent kiss, but it had Tony's stomach flipping more during this than any heated make out session had in the past.

Suddenly the thought of _making out_ with Pepper was thrust into his mind, and he wondered if maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't mind if he parted his lips slightly… just like...

_Click._

The unmistakable sound of Tony's door being unlatched was heard.

In an instant they had pulled away, both recognizing the sound as fast as one another.

Pepper's cheeks had lit up brighter than Tony thought was possible, and he felt his stomach drop deeper than the time he was caught in his dad's alcohol cabinet;_ by his dad. _

It dawned on him then that what they were doing was even more forbidden than stealing your father's alcohol.

And perhaps that's why it felt so good.

It wasn't that kissing Pepper was forbidden… it was more or less that kissing your best friend that took nearly twelve years of convincing people that you were _not a couple_, was forbidden.

Or at least it felt like it.

Tony's new thoughts of forbiddance were cut short though as his door opened all the way and revealed none other than his mother.

Maria glanced between the two frozen teenagers, the controllers on the ground, and the discarded juice boxes on the table.

She totally knew.

"Oh look who's here!" His mother cheered happily, giving the both of them a generous smile before she walked more into the room, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "Virginia, how've you been?"

Pepper let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and returned the smile. "I've been great, and yourself?" she chimed back politely.

"Good, good." his mother replied, walking over to the edge of the couch where Tony was seated. "What have you two been up to?" she asked, looking over to Tony with a kind smile and bringing her hands to his hair, playing with a few unruly soft spikes at the top of his head.

"We're just playing Halo." Tony said, turning a bit to look up at her, allowing her to touch his hair.

His mother glanced to the controllers on the ground and to the unpaused neutral TV screen before meeting Tony's gaze again. "I can see that." she smiled sweetly.

Tony was sure there was a hint of sarcasm in there.

Pepper fiddled with her hands in her lap and stared between the mother and her son before she hesitantly leaned down to pick up her controller from the ground, finding that would some how help their case.

Maria was just staring at Tony before she leaned away from the couch and moved over to the coffee table. "Well, I thoughtI I'd just come upstairs to say hello." she said, picking up the empty juice boxes and the straw wrappers. "And I'll let you two get back to your game." she said, placing the garbage in the bin next to Tony's door.

"Thanks." Tony said, watching her a little awkwardly as she turned back to the door.

"Always nice seeing you Virginia." she said kindly.

"You too Mrs. Stark." Pepper said, and watched as Maria placed her hand on Tony's door handle and left the room, keeping the door open.

Tony could hear his mothers heels click clacking down the hall, and when he finally decided she was a safe distance away he turned to Pepper, his bottom lip between his teeth.

"She so knows."

Pepper blushed again. "You think?"

"She left the door open." Tony sighed, and and shook his head.

Pepper joined him with a sigh of her own. "I noticed."

Tony glanced down to his controller on the floor, and then back up to her, words of "_Can I trust Virginia Potts behind a closed door with my son?"_ echoing through his mind. It actually made him smile a bit. Because now, they really did have something worth keeping a door closed over.

Pepper must of seen him smiling, because soon enough the corners of her lips began to turn up, only making Tony grin wider.

He got up then, and walked over to his door, glancing down the hallway before he closed it again, turning the knob so his mother wouldn't hear it click.

If things weren't suspicious before, they certainly were now. But frankly, he didn't care. On the other hand he _did_ care about the redhead currently sat in his room smiling at him, that he'd just locked lips with a few minutes ago and brought his attention right back to her.

"Soooo…" he began, sauntering back to the couch and plopping down next to her, quite the grin on his face.

"So?" Pepper said, raising a brow to him.

"That was totally only nine seconds."

**I'm hoping you guys are enjoying these two as much as I am. Please review and let me know what you think! :) **


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